A Historical Field Guide to the Meadowlands

Updated Jan. 30, 2014 12:20 a.m. ET

When the Seattle Seahawks square off against the Denver Broncos Sunday night in Super Bowl XLVIII, it will mark a seismic moment for New York and New Jersey, the co-hosts of the first cold-weather, outdoor Super Bowl.

More specifically, the game will offer an unlikely turn in the spotlight for the strange tract of marshland that is well-known to fans of the Jets and Giants but a mystery to the rest of the country: the...